Caste and justice

Sushma Tiwari (Image from The Hindu)

I came across this article in The Hindu about a woman, Sushma Tiwari, who was responding to a petition filed by her brother, Dilip Tiwari. Dilip has murdered Sushma's husband and four others of her marital family. It was a case of honour killing. Sushma's husband, Prabhu, was a man of a lower caste from Kerala while Shilpa was a Brahmin from UP. The complete article can be found by clicking here,

A clear case of honour killing has taken place. The case at the Magistrate level and at the Bombay High Court resulted in a sentence of capital punishment for Dilip, but after appealing in the Supreme Court, the sentence was reduced to imprisonment for 25 years.

What struck me is not the sentencing by the SC (I am against the death penalty personally) but the judgement it delivered. The Court said in paragraph 41 of the judgement, "It is a common experience that when the younger sister commits something unusual and in this case it was an intercaste, intercommunity marriage out of the secret love affair, then in the society it is the elder brother who justifiably or otherwise is held responsible for not stopping such affair. It is held as the family defeat. At times, he has to suffer taunts and snide remarks even from the persons who really have no business to poke their nose into the affairs of the family." I was stunned! What did the Court just do? 

So what if the brother receives snide remarks or taunts? Does that justify his act? What made me even more worrisome is the fact that this case can be cited in the SC in case of further honour killings. What then? Will every honour killing done to avoid remarks from others be justified and the sentence reduced? I urge all of you to read the entire judgement http://indiankanoon.org/doc/1100478/ and see for yourselves the way this case has been handled.

In my opinion, the SC has in effect made  the use of violence as a retaliation to snide remarks justifiable. The Court which is supposed to protect the people and especially the Dalits from such atrocities has dealt a blow to them. In Sushma's own words quoted from The Hindu this reasoning by the Court, "is wrong and totally illegal under our Constitution and various laws of the land like the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989” and “can never be made a ground for lessening a sentence. In fact, these feelings of caste hatred are themselves criminal." I do not  oppose the commutation of the death sentence. But I cannot say I agree with the statement made by the Court which I have mentioned before.

Sushma had filed a review petition challenging this decision. I hope this case is a lesson to all. Marriage is between a man and woman who have given their consent. The caste, religion or any other societal label should not be a hindrance to the marriage of two consenting adults of marriageable age. The courts should set an example in enforcing this. Honour killings must never be encouraged.

Communalism, the bane of free India

The recent clashes in Kishtwar on the day of Eid are another grim reminder of how our country is still in the grip of communalism. The violence in Kishtwar resulted in two people being killed, around 80 injured, curfews being imposed and the Amarnath Yatra being cancelled for some time. Political statements about the riots were also abundant and Parliament flared up in debate on the issue with Arun Jaitley, objecting to the prohibition from visiting the region, saying that his detention was a “censorship” by the state government. He was in turn rebutted by former Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir Farooq Abdulla who said “Nobody was allowed into Gujarat after the riots,” referring to the post-Godhra clashes that occurred there in 2002.

India has a terrible history of communalism and has seen brutal clashes in the past 100 years. The ones that come immediately to mind are those that followed partition, the anti-Sikh riots in 1984 and those of Gujarat in 2002. All these clashes resulted in tremendous losses of life and also left many homeless.

The minorities have borne the brunt of fundamentalism in recent times. In Karnataka, attacks on the Christian community escalated between 2008 and 2012 when places of worship were vandalised and the clergy assaulted. Coastal Karnataka has also seen violence against the Muslim ‘Beary’ community where young boys and youths were assaulted just for being in the company of Hindu girls. These heinous crimes were committed by fundamentalists on the pretext of protecting their culture and even the police and the state government at the time were mute spectators.

India is a secular country according to the preamble of our Constitution which also states that every citizen is secured the liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship. By secular, it means the Government of India will not encourage religion, but will not restrict anyone from practicing and propagating any religion of their choice. India’s history is full of writings praising its religious tolerance. From the times of the Roman Empire itself, historians have recorded how India was peaceful and where people of all faiths could live in harmony. However, this secular fabric is being torn by religious fundamentalists who with their own personal agenda have begun to launder hate of other religious communities in the name of protecting their own.

Religion is supposed to be a personal affair. It is not supposed to be brought out into the streets and it is not meant to be used to justify violence. If religion is itself the cause of creating tensions among people, then one wonders what the purpose of religion itself is. Religion is claimed by its adherents to be a guideline to a righteous life, but the same teachings from the same holy books are used by those who claim to be equally fervent adherents to commit murder and other atrocities on fellow citizens.

Religion must be separated from politics and the government. But unfortunately vote bank politics make parties depend on religion as a tool to infuriate the masses. Communalism will continue in our country only as long as we the people let it. We must not let this dangerous idea go any further.

Life must go on

I know how it feels!

I was in love too, still am. I still am and with the very same person, that one who means the world to me and she that suffers my fate today. It hurts! It hurts to see you go through what I went through once. It pains me to see your pain. I feel what you feel, at least, I know what it feels like.

But what can we do? We're human after all. And like you and me, every human being has their own desires and their own plans. You had yours too.

You are strong, I know. You have the heart of an innocent child but the mind of a strong general in battle. You are the perfect mix of the fair and the strong. You can move mountains if you so wish. You have the faith and you have the will. Things which I don't.

Yet, you suffer. Just as I cried, you cry. Just as I despised the world, you despise it too. More dangerously, just as I wanted to ruin myself, you want to. Why?

What does all this show, other than the fact that we are miserable human beings who have deep desires but have to face the reality of putting others desires before our own?

But trust me, life goes on!

I know, I tried to end it. I tried slowly killing myself with drugs, with all vices that would take me straight to the pits of hell in your world. You think of something bad, and I've done it. Just to get over what I had for the one I love. It turned me into someone who in your own words "no one could recognise." And I wanted to be alone too. I wanted nothing to do with the world. I wanted no one. I wanted to die!

But life went on. It did not stop to let me die either. It did not let me throw the world away. Life did not leave me alone. And I'm sure life wont leave you alone too. I know for a fact it wont.

"You are the salt of the earth and a sainted. God shall seal your endeavours until you sit on his right hand. So, fight the good fight for his sake. And he shall be your aid."

These words kept echoing in my heart every time I thought of giving up. These words kept me going strong. And if an atheist unbeliever like me can take refuge in these strong words, I'm sure  you can find great support in this short verse.

No matter what, just remember what a wonderful human being you are. Remember how kind you are and what a great daughter, sister and friend you have been to all those who have loved you with all of their hearts. You are surely a saint - a saint of strength and of everything that is sweet in this world. To me you are the best and there can never be anyone better.

I write this to tell you to fight the good fight! Don't give up on life no matter what you do. Because life has not given up on you. The gift of knowing that I've a friend like you makes everytime I wake up that mush more special. And the fact that I know you will be there tomorrow to me makes every night blessed. This is the gift you are in my life. And I'm sure you bless a lot more lives just like you have done mine.

I have not given up on you. I never will. My friend, my greatest friend! I will never give up on you.

I promise you all that I have, both earthly and above.
What's perfect and what's not, and my service and my life
Because you are all to me, and you're my greatest friend
I will ask no questions, but give you all I have

That was a very bad attempt at a poem. But in any case, I'm left without words. All I will say to you is I will not leave you. Forget me, no one will let you go. Forget everyone else too. Life wont let you go. Life will carry you on and on.....